Happy Birthday! #SmartFinal140th

What do you do when you get the chance to celebrate a birthday?  Well, you throw a party of course.  And make cupcakes, and brownie balls and then you buy a cake.  You even call in a favor from a friend who makes amazing printables.  And this is what you get!  Fun decorations, the sweetest sweets and lots of fun.

Smart & Final is celebrating 140 years in business, and I got to celebrate with them.  No one from Smart & Final actually attended the party, but I’m pretty sure they would have had if they had seen the cupcakes I made in their honor!

Who knew that celebrating the 140th Birthday of a store (#SmartFinal140th) could be such a great excuse for some seriously cute decorations and deliciously decadent desserts?

Here’s what I made (recipes below):

Cupcakes*

Cake**

Brownie Balls***

Once we were all set up with our Smart and Final Birthday Party desserts, we threw in some anonymous tasters (so they are not anonymous) and those decadent desserts were ancient history.

Here’s to you, Smart and Final!  Wishing you a wonderful ‘nother 140 years!

Recipes:

*Cupcakes:  Smart & Final Brand First Street Chocolate Cake Mix.  I followed package directions for cupcakes.  Love this recipe because it makes exactly 12 cupcakes, unlike traditional cake box mixes that make more than that and I’m left wondering that to do with the extra batter.

Cupcake Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 6 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla exrract
• 3 cups powdered sugar

**Cake:  So I didn’t make it.  I bought it.  At Smart and Final.  It was a fabulous Red Velvet Bundt Cake and it was under ten bucks.  Score.

***Brownie Balls:  I made brownies as directed on First Street Brownie Mix bag.  Once the brownies were completely cooled, I cut into squares, rolled each square in powered sugar and voila!  Brownie balls that look AND taste great.

The Birthday Banners and Cupcake Toppers were designed by Tricia at Trillustrations.  She has some really cute FREE printables on her site, and she also is getting ready to roll out a shop with printables for purchase that are adorable and really affordable!  When you stop by tell her I sent you!  Rumor has it she has some great Halloween Printables….

Disclosure:  This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #collectivebias.